reedsymarketplace
Assemble a team of professionals
reedsystudio
The writing app for authors
reedsylearning
Writing courses, events and memberships
reedsydiscovery
Get your book reviewed
reedsyprompts
Weekly writing prompts and contests
Writing courses, events and conferences
Upcoming events
Layer by Layer: How to Edit Your Book
July 19, 2026
Level Up the Structure of Your Story
June 29, 2026
Beyond "Show, Don't Tell" with Mary Kole
June 16, 2026
Live Editing #9 with Cat Camacho
June 15, 2026
Learn how to succeed as a writer from the best in the business.
Every writer needs a Studio
Check out our writing app for authors!
Menu
More apps built by Reedsy
Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2024
Weekly Contest #356
Prompt: Write a story about a character finding something unexpected in the snow, grass, or water.Secondary prompts: Start of end your story with a sensory detail (something that evokes scent, texture, taste, sight, and/or sound). Write the story about the aftermath of someone’s sacrifice. Forlorn with Flowers and Forgiveness The arid breeze was making breathing difficult for Mary Magdeline or Mae as her late father called her. Her nostrils flared at the scent of the earth, dust and metallic odors coming from the rocks and sand of the d...
Weekly Contest #355
Prompt: Include a wake or funeral in your story where the mourners have conflicting feelings about the deceased.Dying to Play Ball Wheels are screeching and there is a slopping sound of a mop on the floor. The smell of disinfectant and alcohol permeate the air. “So, how are you feeling today’ Mr. Highhope?” “Still breathing Mr. Clean. Mind if you mop over by the garbage can? My aim ain’t so good these days. Good thing I ain’t the starting pitcher for today’s game.” “Don’t worry about your mess. I have it all under control. I’ll turn on...
Weekly Contest #354
Prompt: Write about someone who is grappling with loneliness. When One Equals Zero The music and words in my head were so loud it was disrupting my thoughts. “One is the loneliest number you could ever do…” was incessantly chirping away in my brain. I could not get it to stop no matter what I did to distract myself. Then the refrain started in…” One is the loneliest number” over and over again. I clenched my head with my hands. I plugged my ears, but the music was piercing my eardrums. The words would just not stop!I mouthed “Please God,...
Weekly Contest #353
Prompt: Write a story where the line between myth and reality begins to blur.Prompt: Write a story that connects mythology and science. Ancient, Mighty and Eternal “It’s an agglomerated catastrophe,” said the young geologist as he pounded his hammer into the side of the mountain. His equally young comrade John (and presiding archaeologist) was nodding in agreement. “John, I can hammer night and day for the next twenty years and I likely will make no more headway than what I have done in the past hour. I think it is time to reassess our pla...
Weekly Contest #352
Prompt: Write a story in which a character can taste, smell, hear, and/or feel color. Roy-A Palette of Color Hello citizens, of this magnificent world! My name is Roy G. Biv. I have come to save you from the gloominess and unhappiness that cloud your everyday lives. You have fallen victim to the bleak, drab, ashen villains of daily living. I will create smiles across your pallid faces. For those of you unfamiliar with me, I am a superhero of epic proportions. I paint the skies with rainbows of vividness and brilliance of color. Look ...
Weekly Contest #347
Prompt: A character breaks a rule they swore they’d never break. What happens next? Last Words I was not in the greatest frame of mind that day when I lashed out at my mom shortly after she had reprimanded me. In my opinion, it should not have been a big deal when I offered my rebuttal at her accusatory words. Nevertheless, it was a costly error. I found myself without my phone, my TV, and most importantly, my weekly allowance for a month. Her chastising words were, “Your tongue is not an asset. One of these days your words will be you...
Weekly Contest #346
Prompt: write about someone who has or is given the ability to teleport or time-travel. Wormhole “Timothy Edward and Peter Michael,” our Mama yelled from the kitchen. We knew when she added our middle names we were both about to get a verbal tongue lashing or the ominous threat of “wait ‘til your father gets home.” We were stunned when she said, “Boys, you need to go outside and breathe the fresh autumn air. The fall school term will soon start and you’ll be climbing the walls to get outside. Put your video controllers down and go get yours...
Weekly Contest #345
Prompt: Write about someone who must fit their whole life in one suitcase. Main Course My mind drifted as I heard ba dum, ba dum , ba dum, ba dum the sounds of drums beating in the distance. It gets louder as I scramble to pack my suitcase. The Ratu (chief) is at my hut. “You must leave the island now. The Shaman wants your head. You will be boiled in oil if he catches you. Take your God and your magic water with you. The women are crying out because of the deaths of their babies. The Shaman wants to avenge their deaths because he says your ...
Prompt: Write a story which something doesn’t go according to plan. Not A Typical Day at the Funeral Home Ahh achoo! Ahh achoo! Achoo! The echoing sounds reverberated through the room. My head swiveled nearly one hundred eighty-degree as I heard a crashing sound. The casket turned on its side crashing to the floor emptying its contents. Mourners fled in one of two directions: either to the coffin or directly out the main door. I guess I was the only one who rushed forward to the lifeless body now seemingly alive. “Holy crap! The corpse had...
Weekly Contest #344
Prompt: Write a story that includes the words “déjà vu” or “that didn’t happen.” One Life So Others May Live An obnoxiously loud alarm sounded jarring me from a troubled night of dreams. The ringing only lasted a few seconds but the blood curdling screams from my dreams continued to reverberate in my head long afterwards. Despite the horror resonating in my mind, I pulled myself up off the steel bed frame heading toward the iron bar gate. Magically it opened on its own as though some distant force was controlling it. I quickly joined the z...
Prompt: Write a story where the traditional laws of time and space begin to dissolve. Glorious! “Glorious! Glorious! My words seem so inadequate to share the wonders before my eyes and what I am now feeling. Death cannot quell the mysteries of the Eternal One. There is a magnitude of joy that permeates the heavens. It is ceaseless. There are no boundaries; there is no Law because the Law has been overcome. Its indictments and consequences can no longer reach me beyond the grave. I have been set free.” The pain surges again in my bo...
Weekly Contest #342
Main Prompt: End your story with someone saying “I love you” or “I do.” She Loves Me “Daisy, Daisy, I’m half-crazy all for all my love of you! She loves me. She loves me not” as I murmured to myself picking the petals off of a daisy. I have two dozen more flowers to go. So, if I don’t get it right, I have plenty more petals to pluck. I am overwhelmed with a forlorn heart with no remedy for it. I planted myself under the shade of a weeping willow to wreak a horticultural nightmare on those innocent daisies. So why project my anxiety on them? ...
Weekly Contest #340
Prompt: Write from the POV of a pet or inanimate object. What do they observe that other characters don’t? A Rock of the Ages-Finding Purpose Hey you! Yeah, I’m talking to you! Stop swiveling your head right and left. Look down toward your feet. Now you get the picture. No, stop looking at the bugs. They sure are not talking to you. I am the palm-sized rock with the coarse exterior. If I were human, I guess I’d have a serious acne problem. Please pick me up and take me home with you. It’s lonely out here with no one to talk to. Plus, I am...
Weekly Contest #339
Major Prompt: Start or end your story with a character making a cup of tea or coffee (for themself or someone else). Other prompts included in this story: Write a story where a scent or taste evokes a memory or realization for your character. Include a café, bakery, bookshop, or kitchen in your story. Write a story with the aim of making your reader smile and/or cry. End your story with someone watching snow or rain fall. Dreamy Tea The scent of Chamomile permeates the air as the tea bags steep in the boiling water. I just love that aroma o...
Weekly Contest #338
Prompt: Start or end your story with someone opening or closing a book. The Ultimate Revelation My given name is Pierre. Friends (or so they claim to be) call me the “hoover” because I vacuum up books. I thirst and hunger to read books. Books of any genre, any length and by any author. I would say it is more than a hobby. It’s more than a mere preoccupation. It has been and continues to be an obsession for me. I was born this way. My mother told me she would read simple fairy tale stories while I was still in the womb. Right after my mother...
Oops, you need an account for that!
Log in with your social account:
Or enter your email:
3 likes
